Industrial control systems have enabled modern factories to become partially or completely automated in many circumstances. These systems generally include a plurality of Input and Output (I/O) modules that interface at a device level to switches, contactors, relays and solenoids along with analog control to provide more complex functions such as Proportional, Integral and Derivative (PID) control. Communications have also been integrated within the systems, whereby many industrial controllers can communicate via network technologies such as Ethernet, ControlNet, DeviceNet, FOUNDATION Fieldbus, PROFIBUS or other network protocols and also communicate to higher level computing systems. Generally, industrial controllers utilize the aforementioned technologies along with other technology to control, cooperate and communicate across multiple and diverse applications.
Imperative to factory automation are human-machine interfaces (HMIs), which facilitate safe and efficient interaction between humans and machinery, wherein manipulation and control of complex and/or expensive machinery occurs via a computer. For example, in an industrial setting, a press operator can utilize a HMI to start and/or stop such press via depressing a key on a keyboard. Typically, HMIs operable on a computer include a graphical user interface (GUI) to facilitate display of virtual software objects that represent industrial system components and/or actions. For example, a GUI can allow display of a factory floor on a single display device, thereby enabling a user to quickly access a component on the factory floor via a graphical representation of such component. The graphical representations in turn have controls embedded, thus allowing a user to make real world changes through a visual representation.
Controls can be implemented to communicate with I/O of a physical device (e.g. a pump) via a server. Such an implementation is typically configured to allow a HMI to graphically display process points (I/O of physical devices) desirably controlled by a user. To control one or more process points, the user can select a graphical software object representing the one or more process points. Such exemplary control scheme utilizes a standard protocol to bring process points into an HMI environment and to communicate a value of each process point to an HMI.
An HMI also allows a user to log data taken on a periodic basis (e.g. trended data) to determine quality of process points relating to product manufacturing. For example, trending data can be desirable to facilitate efficient factory maintenance, quality control, and other similar operations. Furthermore, such trended data can be used to compare known ideal data with current data to ensure that a current system is operating properly. Therefore, a production automation system can “learn” from past data trends and utilize trended data to facilitate more efficient production.
Conventional HMI systems are associated with high implementation costs, as several platforms (e.g. devices and operating systems) are required by HMI(s) in accordance with a control scheme within an industrial setting. Disparate platforms are required in instances where control schemes vary with requirements for portability dictated by machine or factory layout. Programming costs increase with a number of platforms required, as dissimilar platforms require specific code (e.g., code facilitating display of graphical objects on a PDA differs from code facilitating display of graphical objects on a desktop monitor). Furthermore, a HMI created by a computer programmer can be inefficient when implemented within an industrial environment, resulting in increased cost due to system and/or process latency. In such instances, the programmers who created the HMI must be located to re-program such HMI into several disparate platforms, thereby compounding deficiencies of conventional HMIs (e.g., substantially similar HMIs on a PDA and computer monitor, respectively, require separate re-programming). In view of the foregoing, a system and/or methodology mitigating programming costs associated with substantially similar HMI(s) displayed on a variety of platforms is desirable.